Lokayukta arrests Bangalore Rural DC

Aiyappas role in illegal transfer of land sold to MLA kin under lens

The Lokayukta police on Wednesday arrested IAS officer and Bangalore Rural Deputy Commissioner M K Aiyappa based on a private complaint filed in the Special Lokayukta Court.

Aiyappa was being investigated for granting land illegally in Hesaraghatta hobli to one Narasimhaiah, who later sold it to the relatives of Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath. The matter had been referred by the Special Lokayukta Court to the police on October 12, 2012.

The IAS officer was remanded in police custody for 24 hours by Lokayukta Judge N K Sudhindra Rao, who refused to grant Lokayukta Deputy Superintendent of Police Palakshaiah access to Aiyappa for two days.

Aiyappa spent the night at the Cubbon Park Police Station. Meanwhile, the police also raided his residence on Wednesday evening to search for documents pertaining to the case.

Three other government officials — K Gopalaswamy, special tahsildar for Bangalore North, N Balakrishnamurthy, revenue inspector of Arakere circle, and K V Ravikumar, sub-registrar of Hesarghatta— were also arrested and remanded in police custody for 24 hours.

Sources in the Lokayukta police said Aiyappa had not responded to repeated notices to appear before them. On Wednesday, while the three others appeared in the office, Aiyappa once again ignored the notice. He was traced to the Devanahalli sub registrar’s office, where he was arrested.

Additional Director General of Police H N Sathyanarayana Rao said they had prima facie evidence of fabrication of fake revenue documents and misuse of official power to transfer 32 acres of government land and its subsequent sale for a sum of Rs 7 crore, against all the four arrested persons.

Interestingly, Aiyappa has other cases under investigation with the Lokayukta police. The Lokayukta police had earlier given him a clean chit in one of the cases, where he was accused of seeking money to allot land in a dispute.

The case

The complaint filed by P Anil Kumar, Harish and Muniveerappa, all residents of Madappanahalli village pertained to 32 acres and four guntas in survey number 62 of Madappanahalli village in Hesaraghatta hobli of Bangalore North taluk.

One Narasimhaiah filed a revision petition before Deputy Commissioner M K Aiyappa stating that the land was granted to his father and prayed for its restoration. He further claimed that the land was his ancestral property and had been classified as “phada” (granted land on which tax has not been paid) land.

In reality, the complainants stated, this land had been classified as “banjar” land in revenue records. Aiyappa, after receiving the petition is stated to have sought a report from Special Tahsildar Gopalswamy, who submitted a false report stating that Narasimhaiah was in possession of the land.

Meanwhile four others — Baba Saheb, Habibunissa, Simran and Syed Shafi — filed their objections stating they had been granted three acres each of this very land in 1978 and sought to include their names in the revenue records of the land.

The five, including Narasimhaiah, were never residents of this village, the complainants contended.

Aiyappa passed an order restoring the land to Narasimhaiah, after recording an observation that the claim by the remaining four was bogus. When this was challenged in the Karnataka High Court, the DC first withdrew his order. Then the four withdrew their petitions in the High Court and later Aiyappa again passed an order granting Narasimhaiah the rights to the land on September 22, 2012.

But Narasimhaiah had sold this land to nine others 11 days before Aiyappa passed the final order. The complainants had alleged that these buyers were either Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath’s relatives or his aides.